Outcomes of innovative designing are frequently described as enabling us in achieving more desirable futures. How can we design and innovate so as to enable future processes of design and innovation? To investigate this question, this thesis probes the conditions, possibilities and limitations of toolmaking for novelty and knowledge generation, or in other words, it examines designing for designing. The focus of this thesis is on the development of digital design tools that support the reconciliation of conflicting criteria centred on architectural geometry. Of particular interest are the roles of methodological approaches and of biological analogies as guides in toolmaking for design, as well as the possibility of generalising design tools beyond the contexts from which they originate. The presented investigation consists of an applied toolmaking study and a subsequent reflective analysis using second- order cybernetics as a theoretical framework. Observations made during the toolmaking study suggest that biological analogies can, in informal ways, inspire designing, including the designing of design tools. Design tools seem to enable the generation of novelty and knowledge beyond the contexts in and for which they are developed only if their users apply them in ways unanticipated by the toolmaker. Abstract The reflective analysis offers theoretical explanations for these observations based on aspects of second-order cybernetics. These aspects include the modelling of designing as a conversation, different relationships between observers (such as designers) and systems (such as designers engaged in their projects), the distinction between coded and uncoded knowledge, as well as processes underlying the production and the restriction of meaning. Initially aimed at the development of generally applicable, prescriptive digital tools for designing, the presented work results in a personal descriptive model of novelty and knowledge generation in science and design. This shift indicates a perspective change from a positivist to a relativist outlook on designing, which was accomplished over the course of the study. Investigating theory and practice of designing and of science, this study establishes an epistemological model of designing that accommodates and extends a number of theoretical concepts others have previously proposed. According to this model, both design and science generate and encode new knowledge through conversational processes, in which open-minded perception appears to be of greater innovative power than efforts to exercise control. The presented work substantiates and exemplifies radical constructivist theory of knowledge and novelty production, establishes correspondences between systems theory and design research theory and implies that mainstream scientific theories and practices are insufficient to account for and to guide innovation. Keywords (separated by commas) Digital design tools, geometry rationalisation, second-order cybernetics, knowledge generation

Cette thèse aborde la problématique de la génération des connaissances au cours de la phase de conception et plus particulièrement en conception collaborative. Il est proposé d'exploiter les connaissances en conception après une phase de collecte, de capture. Après une phase de capitalisation viendra une étape de réarrangement de ces connaissances. Un processus appelé "Processus d'Ingénition" est montré. Établi sur le principe de description de graphes de connaissances augmentées d'une triple instrumentation, ce processus permet une analyse originale des phases de conception d'un produit. Des applications à l'ingénierie didactique et à l'ingénierie pédagogique ont vu le jour au cours de ce travail. Les domaines de la conception collaborative de produits, de la didactique et de la gestion des connaissances sont mis en regard pour proposer une vision originale du processus de conception collaborative. / This thesis deals with knowledge generation problems during product design and more particularly in collaborative design. By integration of thee fields, collaborative product design, didactic engineering and knowledge management, we propose a generic framework. The main proposition is to capture, capitalize, reorganize and then exploit the knowledge in the field of design product. In the first step we develop a conceptual framework as “process of ingenition”. This global process allows defining the macro level positioning. In the second step the graph of knowledge description with a “triple instrumentation” developed. This process leads to have an original analysis of product design. At last we submit an application of proposed process in didactic and teaching engineering.

BANDEIRA, Francisco Dário de Andrade. Uma investigação sobre o poder causal da informação em gerar conhecimento a partir da obra knowledge and the flow of information, de Fred Dretske. 2015. 140f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Filosofia, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-02-02T18:33:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_fdabandeira.pdf: 1111768 bytes, checksum: b2f69c91c6da8857e48799db73391b6c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-02-03T12:58:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_fdabandeira.pdf: 1111768 bytes, checksum: b2f69c91c6da8857e48799db73391b6c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-03T12:58:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_fdabandeira.pdf: 1111768 bytes, checksum: b2f69c91c6da8857e48799db73391b6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / The intensive demand for information nowadays confirms that information has an huge casual power. There’s a diversity of meaning of information and research approach, which can be explained by the different modes of occurrence of information, or even by the complexity of the term. Beyond these tensions, information is generally a valuable resource, a commodity, because it’s an essential element for generation of knowledge. But how information influences the human phenomena? How information contributes for generation of knowledge? This research aims to answer this question based on the work of Fred Dretske (1981). This philosopher proposed an informational semantic that explain how the immaterial side of information, which is related to perception, influences the generation of knowledge. Considering some aspects of mathematical theory of communication, Dretske presents information surrounded by a network of casual relations and nomic regularities that allows the receptor (a person able to understand properly a received message) to have full access to the events of an information resource. This study concludes that the Dretskian notion of information, despite the criticism for its probabilistic nature, once review, offers important insights that help us to understand how knowledge is created in different worlds of information. / As demandas intensas por informação em nossos dias levam à constatação de que a informação possui grande poder causal. Existe uma diversidade de significados do termo informação e também diversas abordagens de pesquisa, isto pode ser explicado pelos diferentes modos de ocorrência da informação ou mesmo pela complexidade do termo. À parte dessas tensões, considera-se em geral, que a informação é um bem precioso, uma commodity porque constitui-se num ingrediente fundamental para a geração do conhecimento. Mas, de fato, como a informação causa algo, como ela gera conhecimento? Esta pesquisa propõe-se a responder tal questão a partir da obra de Fred Dretske (1981). O filósofo propôs uma semântica informacional na qual procura, dentre outras coisas, explicitar como essa entidade imaterial, vinculada à percepção, pode gerar conhecimento. Tomando como centrais algumas noções da teoria matemática da comunicação, Dretske considera que a informação está envolta numa rede de relações causais e regularidades nômicas que propiciam a um dado receptor, quando capaz de interpretar devidamente uma mensagem recebida, a garantia de acesso a um estado de conhecimento de 100% dos eventos na fonte. Explicitado o percurso da argumentação dretskiana, argumenta-se que, mesmo diante de importantes críticas, a exigência probabilística de Dretske poderia, uma vez revisada, auxiliar na compreensão da noção de conhecimento comumente utilizada pelas pessoas nos seus diferentes mundos.

During the last two decades, Wikipedia’s multiple language versions managed to become editable forms of knowledge source, publicly available, which deal both, with non-typical knowledge dissemination and knowledge production, thanks to visitors’ viewership and active users/Wikipedians visitation/viewership and voluntary contribution, respectively. This dissertation investigates the function of recent viewership and editing in Wikipedia in Greek (WiG) and Bulgarian Language (WiB), by visitors and active users/Wikipedians (G-Wiks and B-Wiks), respectively, with respect to the issue of knowledge production (including reproduction) in the broader spectrum of Epistemology. Data and metadata analyzed in the dissertation were released/available as digital footprints from Wikimedia’s Common area and a third-party source (WikiShark). A recent snapshot of each of the above language versions of Wikipedia’s (WiG and WiB) activity, both individually and comparatively, proved that visitors have a specific pattern in both language versions in timeline, are relatively many compared to the number of their own language active users/Wikipedians (G-Wiks and B-Wiks). G-Wiks and B-Wiks, functioning as digitally enabled social networks (DESN), seem to deal more with editing, instead of content creation. From further content analysis of G-Wiks comments in discussion, it seems that editing process is not without tension or toxification; in their attempt to result after discussion in a meaningful Neutral Point of Views (NPOV) content of WiG. Moreover, thanks to many contemporary activities, G-Wiks DESN seems to open floor and facilitate/educate youth to become new members of WiG, through webinars, Editathons, and contests, aiming to result in further intentional, purposeful, and useful, collaborative knowledge production in the digital information pace, during this so-called Information Era.

Background – Our digitalized society is constantly increasing, and with the development, the importance of the Internet for political knowledge generation is also increasing. The digital development has caused a series of problems that can disturb the prevailing democracy due to that many individuals create their political identity through social media as a communication channel. In addition to the fact that the majority of the younger generation use social media as their primarily communication channel, there is also cause for concern that individuals tend to avoid news due to current news skepticism. News skepticism has grown as fake news has increased, especially since the US presidential election in 2016, and even though fake news is identified and corrected, it is often the fake information that people tend to remember. Furthermore, it is also important to emphasize that the dissemination of information through digital media is extensive to the extent that individuals cannot be source critical towards it all. Social media has also become a platform that is used to promote hidden intentions, for example, that politicians use bots to generate popularity. Further, today's journalism has been influenced by digital developments and has changed how news are spreading on digital platforms. Finally, many individuals perceive that they no longer need to actively seek out news and to further generate knowledge because they personally stress the fact that important news always finds them, also known as "news-finds-me". Aim -The aim is to create an understanding of the relationship between communication channels and knowledge generation within the context of political involvement, digitalization and news skepticism. Methodology -The empirical material is based on a mixed method research and the empirical data has been collected through a qualitative and a quantitative survey. The qualitative research method consisted of six semi-structured interviews in contrast to the quantitative research methodthat consisted of a survey. Conclusion–An increasing amount of people deselect traditional media and it should therefore be a change in how knowledge generation occurs. Furthermore, there is a distinct relationship between knowledge generation and communication channels. The result shows that digital media are the basis of the change that has taken place in knowledge generation rather than the generation of which you belong. Finally, we believe that a crucial factor for knowledge generation is the desireto actively seek out knowledge and not to wait for news to find you. / Bakgrund –Digitaliseringen ökar ständigt och i och med utvecklingen ökar även internets betydelse för politisk kunskapsgenerering. Den digitala utvecklingen har medfört en mängd problem som kan störa den rådande demokratin då många individer skapar sin politiska identitet genom sociala medier som kommunikationskanal. Utöver att många tillhörande den yngre generationen använder sociala medier som sin främsta kommunikationskanal finns det även oro att individer tenderar att undvika nyheter på grund av rådande skepticism. Skepticismen har växt i takt med att fake news har ökat, främst sedan det amerikanska presidentvalet 2016, och även om falska nyheter identifieras och tillrättagörs är det ofta den falska informationen som blir ihågkommen. Vidare är det även av vikt att belysa att informationsspridningen via digitala medier är så pass omfattande att individer inte hinner vara källkritisk gentemot all rapportering. Sociala medier har även kommit att bli en plattform som utnyttjas för att främja dolda avsikter, exempelvis att politiker använder sig av botar för att generera popularitet. Ytterligare har dagens journalism påverkats av den digitala utvecklingen och har förändrat hur nyheter sprids på digitala forum. Slutligen uppfattar många individer att de inte längre behöver aktivt söka upp nyheter och vidare generera kunskap då de menar att viktiga nyheter alltid når dem, även kallad “news-finds-me”. Syfte -Syftet är att skapa förståelse för relationen mellan kommunikationskanaler och kunskapsgenerering inom kontexten avpolitiskt engagemang, digitalisering och nyhetsskepticism. Metod -Studien genomfördes genom flermetodsforskning då den empiriska datan har samlats in genom en kvalitativ samt kvantitativ undersökning. Den kvalitativa undersökningen bestod av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer medan den kvantitativa undersökningen genomfördes genom en omfattande enkätundersökning. Slutsats -Allt fler väljer bort traditionella medier och därför bör det ske en förändring i hur kunskapsgenerering sker. Det finns en tydlig relation mellan kunskapsgenerering och kommunikationskanaler. Resultatet påvisar att det är de digitala medierna som ligger till grund för den förändring som har skett vid kunskapsgenerering snarare än vilken generation man tillhör. Slutligen menar vi att en avgörande faktor för kunskapsgenerering är viljan att aktivt söka upp kunskap och att inte vänta på att nyheter hittar mig.

Based on informal discussions with a range of scholars across the African continent, it was felt that there was a need for a scholarly publisher located in Africa, focusing on African content, and targeting an African audience. It had also been expressed by a number of researchers, and was of wider potential interest – given the author’s institutional situation and context at the time, as well as management imperatives – that the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) could use its existing capacity and strengths in the area of African studies, specifically from a social science and development perspective, and its networks on the African continent, to form a possible institutional base for such a press, through the expansion of its publishing division. But there was no certainty as to whether this was in fact a viable business idea. Thus, this study carries out a feasibility study, to investigate and evaluate whether a scholarly press focusing on African material would be viable in the current South African, continental and international context. The study takes the form of a literature survey, questionnaire-based empirical survey, and business planning exercise. The key research question that is investigated is: Given the limitations of and challenges currently facing the South African (and wider African) scholarly publishing industry, could a scholarly publisher working according to the above vision be viably set up, and how could this be achieved? Broad support is found for the notion of a new scholarly publisher, and a business plan is developed to show how such a press could be set up, working within certain constraints and assumptions. / Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Information Science / MIS / Unrestricted

Small-scale fisheries are learning contexts of importance for generating, transferring, and updating ecological knowledge of natural environments through everyday work practices. The rich knowledge fishers have of local ecosystems is the result of the intimate relationship fishing communities have had with their natural environments across generations (see e.g. Urquhart and Acott 2013). This relationship develops strong emotional bonds to the physical and social place. For fishing communities and fishers – who depend directly on local ecosystems to maintain their livelihoods – fishing environments are natural places for living, working and defining themselves. Previous research on fishers’ ecological knowledge has mainly been descriptive, i.e., has focused on aspects such as reproduction, nutrition and spatial-temporal distribution and population dynamics, from a traditional view of knowledge that only recognises scientific knowledge as the true knowledge. By doing this, fishers’ ecological knowledge has been investigated separately from the learning contexts in which it is generated, ignoring the influence of social, cultural and historical aspects that characterise fishing communities, and the complex relationships between fishers and the natural environments they live and work in. This thesis investigates ecological knowledge among small-scale fishers living and working in the ecosystems of Lake Vättern and the Blekinge Archipelago (Baltic Sea) in Sweden and explores how ecological knowledge is generated with particular regard to the influences of work and nature on fishers’ knowledge of ecosystems. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of informal learning processes of ecosystem complexity among small-scale fishers. This knowledge further contributes to the research field of ecological knowledge and sustainable use and management of natural resources. It addresses the particular research questions of what ecological knowledge fishers generate, and how its generation is influenced by their fishing work practices and relationships to nature. The thesis consists of three articles. Article I focuses on the need to address the significant lack of theoretical and methodological frameworks for the investigation of the cognitive aspects involved in the generation of ecological knowledge. Article II deals with the need to develop theoretical, methodological and empirical frameworks that avoid romanticising and idealising users’ ecological knowledge in local (LEK), indigenous (IEK) and traditional (TEK) ecological knowledge research, by rethinking it as being generated through work practices. Article III addresses the lack of studies that explicitly explore theories linking complex relations and knowledge that humans form within and of ecosystems. It also addressed the lack of attention from environmental education researchers to theory and empirical studies of ‘sense of place’ research, with a particular focus on environmental learning. Research into the question of what ecological knowledge fishers generate shows differences in their ways of knowing ecosystem complexity. These differences are explained in terms of the influences of the species being fished, and the sociocultural contexts distinguishing fishers’ connection to the fishing profession (i.e., familial tradition or entrepreneurship) (Article I), but also by the fishing strategies used (Article II). Results answering the research question of how work practices influence fishers’ knowledge of ecosystem complexity show a way of rethinking their ecological knowledge as generated in a continuous process of work (Article II), thus, far from romantic views of knowledge. Results answering the research question of how fishers’ relationships to nature influence their knowledge of ecosystem complexity demonstrate the complex interconnections between psychological processes such as identity construction, proximity maintenance and attachment to natural environments (Article III). Finally, more similarities than differences between fishers’ knowledge were found, despite the variation in cases chosen, with regards to landscape, target species, regulations systems and management strategies, fishing environments scales, as well as cultural and social contexts. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.</p><p> </p> / Ecological knowledge and sustainable resource management: The role of knowledge acquisition in enhancing the adaptive capacity of co-management arrangements

Actuellement, le développement du travail en mode projet, ainsi que le travail en réseaux, entraînent de profondes modifications dans la manière de concevoir les espaces de travail et les bureaux. Les entreprises qui conçoivent ces espaces associent souvent des architectes et des designers.La thèse a pour objet de répondre à la question suivante : comment les connaissances nouvelles sont elles générées dans les activités de conception relatives au domaine de l'aménagement des espaces de travail ?Le premier chapitre s'articulera autour des différents travaux relatifs aux activités deconception (travaux de Lebahar, Hatchuel et Visser, etc.). Le second s'intéressera aux différentes théories relatives à la génération des connaissances (travaux de Nonaka, Tsoukas et Engeström, etc).Afin de répondre à notre question de recherche, nous avons mis en place un dispositif d'observation de longue durée au sein des entreprises étudiées (approche de nature ethnométhdologique). Il s'agit de deux entreprises parisiennes spécialisées dans l'aménagement des espaces de travail: Génie des Lieux et Workspace CBRE.Nous avons montré que des difficultés d'intercompréhension apparaissent dans les activités de conception. Ces obstacles sont dûs à l'existence des connaissances tacites relationnelles au sens d'Harry Collins. Ces dernières peuvent être rendues explicites par la conception d'objets intermédiaires. Nous avons vu également comment la conception des artefacts en deux dimensions et en trois dimensions permet la génération des connaissances nouvelles et utiles dans un projet d'aménagement d'espaces de travail. / The development of this work is currently carried out in a project mode, since working in the network requires deep modifications in a way of conceiving the workspaces as well as the offices. The enterprises that conceive these spaces often associate both the designers and the architects.The purpose of this present thesis is to answer the flowing question: how are the recent knowledges generated in the conception activities which appear in the field of work space planning?The first chapter focuses on the works related to the conception activities (works of Lebahar, Hatchuel and Visser...etc...). The second deals with the different theories relating to the generation of knowledge (works of Nonaka, Tsoukas and Engeström... etc...).To answer our research question, we have installed a device which requires a long_term intervention inside the enterprises meant for study (ethnomethodological approach). There are two Parisian enterprises that specialize in work space planning: (GENIE DES LIEUX and workspace CBRE).During the work, we have shown some difficulty intercomprehension that emerged in the conception activities. We have concluded, as a result, that these obstacles were due to relational tacit knowledges (RTK) according to Harry Collins theory. However these difficulties can be made explicit by the conception of intermediate objects.We have also noticed that ho when conceiving the artifacts into two and three dimensions, this allows the generation of new and useful knowledges in a project of work space planning.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / As demandas intensas por informaÃÃo em nossos dias levam à constataÃÃo de que a informaÃÃo possui grande poder causal. Existe uma diversidade de significados do termo informaÃÃo e tambÃm diversas abordagens de pesquisa, isto pode ser explicado pelos diferentes modos de ocorrÃncia da informaÃÃo ou mesmo pela complexidade do termo. à parte dessas tensÃes, considera-se em geral, que a informaÃÃo à um bem precioso, uma commodity porque constitui-se num ingrediente fundamental para a geraÃÃo do conhecimento. Mas, de fato, como a informaÃÃo causa algo, como ela gera conhecimento? Esta pesquisa propÃe-se a responder tal questÃo a partir da obra de Fred Dretske (1981). O filÃsofo propÃs uma semÃntica informacional na qual procura, dentre outras coisas, explicitar como essa entidade imaterial, vinculada à percepÃÃo, pode gerar conhecimento. Tomando como centrais algumas noÃÃes da teoria matemÃtica da comunicaÃÃo, Dretske considera que a informaÃÃo està envolta numa rede de relaÃÃes causais e regularidades nÃmicas que propiciam a um dado receptor, quando capaz de interpretar devidamente uma mensagem recebida, a garantia de acesso a um estado de conhecimento de 100% dos eventos na fonte. Explicitado o percurso da argumentaÃÃo dretskiana, argumenta-se que, mesmo diante de importantes crÃticas, a exigÃncia probabilÃstica de Dretske poderia, uma vez revisada, auxiliar na compreensÃo da noÃÃo de conhecimento comumente utilizada pelas pessoas nos seus diferentes mundos. / The intensive demand for information nowadays confirms that information has an huge casual power. Thereâs a diversity of meaning of information and research approach, which can be explained by the different modes of occurrence of information, or even by the complexity of the term. Beyond these tensions, information is generally a valuable resource, a commodity, because itâs an essential element for generation of knowledge. But how information influences the human phenomena? How information contributes for generation of knowledge? This research aims to answer this question based on the work of Fred Dretske (1981). This philosopher proposed an informational semantic that explain how the immaterial side of information, which is related to perception, influences the generation of knowledge. Considering some aspects of mathematical theory of communication, Dretske presents information surrounded by a network of casual relations and nomic regularities that allows the receptor (a person able to understand properly a received message) to have full access to the events of an information resource. This study concludes that the Dretskian notion of information, despite the criticism for its probabilistic nature, once review, offers important insights that help us to understand how knowledge is created in different worlds of information.

Since the dawn of globalization, manufacturing companies around the world have been expanding their global footprint to stay competitive. International manufacturing network of a company consists of plants with different roles and responsibilities spread across different locations around the world. Due to this increasing geographical dispersion and competitiveness, effective co-ordination of these  plants has become a priority along with achieving effective and efficient operations. This led to the development of the Core plant role. Core plants are the manufacturing plants that aims to achieve competitive and effective production, generate and transfer knowledge, while leading and coordinating the other plants within the network.     However,  the core plant role varies significantly across companies and academia  due to a lack of a common understanding regarding  its responsibilities and objectives. Furthermore, the performance of core plants are being measured with the same generic KPIs  as the other plants, even though their roles and responsibilities varies significantly. As a result, it has become difficult to measure their true performance and contribution of value to the network. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the development of comprehensive performance  measurement system that collectively measures the true performance and value of the core plant role to its international manufacturing network. Initially, the thesis investigates and bridges the mentioned knowledge gap with a two-tier literature review, before establishing their validity and relative importance in empirical context through survey.  The survey approach is also utilized to assess the current situation of performance measurement among core plants of different manufacturing companies.   The  findings suggest that ‘attaining operational excellence’ has the highest strategic importance but  this responsibility  only extends to  individual plant level not the network level. The core plant, network level responsibility ‘knowledge generation’ has the highest relative strategic importance and ‘Capability development’ has the lowest relative  strategic importance. The findings also reveal that the performance measurement systems of network level  core plant responsibilities are either poorly developed or non-existent.  The thesis concludes with a suggestion of a conceptual framework that provides the guidelines to develop a comprehensive performance measurement system for core plants. The findings and suggestions are of practical relevance to the top management of international manufacturing companies and academia for conducting future research.